Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

It was interesting to listen to the government now saying that the Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025 will actually support every child in Australia. Well, if they're going to get the best start possible—it's supposed to be a Labor guarantee—that's, of course, except for rural and regional families, where there actually is no child care available today and won't be in the future. This will guarantee 72 hours a fortnight of taxpayer subsidised child care but certainly not if you're in a childcare desert, where there is no child care available at all. It's supposed to be three days for all families. Well, it won't guarantee that for those families in rural, regional and more remote areas, where there's actually no child care at all. What this bill does not guarantee is that it will actually prioritise places and access for working families or single parents over non-working families. What will a single mum do, one who has to work to keep her children, especially during a cost-of-living crisis? What does she do if she cannot access child care at all? How does the government think she will feel when she looks in the door at the childcare centre and sees children from families where the parent or parents are not working or not having to work because they are earning up to $533,000, which this bill actually allows subsidised child care for? What are her options? Not only is this unfair; it is divisive in communities.

Removing priority access for working families is a terrible decision by Labor. I can only imagine how this will pit family against family where there are and where there will be no childcare places available for the families who need it most. This is divisive, not only for family against family but for metro verses rural, regional and remote. Where is the child care for those in our regional and rural areas that don't have access to any child care at all? How can this be for each and every child in Australia when there's no child care available in our communities? That's how out of touch this side is. I look at the divisive nature of this. For the ones for whom there is no childcare centre or places available because there's no child care or no workers and no accommodation, especially in our smaller regional towns and communities, this bill does absolutely nothing. Why not? I don't know why not. Why does this Labor government continue to ignore regional communities that don't have any child care available at all? And what do these families do right now in the midst of Labor's cost-of-living crisis, where both parents have to work probably more than one job because the interest on their mortgage has gone up by thousands of dollars? The cost of their energy, their fuel, their food and their insurance has gone through the roof under this government.

Many of these people don't have family living close by who can babysit for them. When you live in a regional and remote community—or you're a farmer, and you've got to get on a tractor because it's hay season—what do you do if there's no child care? That's what's happening in our communities. There are so many childcare deserts in Australia where there is no child care available at all. This bill does nothing for them, and it's a false claim to say that every child in Australia will benefit from it. What do you do where there is no child care available? What are they supposed to do when they haven't got family living close by? And why do they have to continue begging for the government to act on their behalf—to actually look at the childcare needs in their small communities?

Keep in mind that these people, who don't have access to child care, work in the regions where Australia's wealth comes from—in the mining and ag sector, often in remote locations. What good is a three-day guarantee for families living in a regional and remote area where there are no childcare centres or services available? What do you do? It's obvious that Labor is only interested in supporting inner-city and metro areas, because they've completely ignored this fact. Come and live in regional, rural and remote Australia, and see how you go with a three-day guarantee when there is no childcare centre or facility available, and you've got no family, and you have to work because you can't make ends meet. It also does nothing for parents who need flexibility, for the families on shiftwork or for those needing out-of-hours child care. Only Labor would think that taxpayers on a modest income of just over $45,000, who are paying 30c on the dollar in tax, should be subsidising child care for families earning up to $533,000. How on earth is that fair?

I've got a prime example of a childcare desert that's been in my electorate. For several years, I've been working with a wonderful but desperate group of women in the small town of Augusta in my electorate. They've been working their hearts out constantly to provide Augusta parents, families and small businesses with access to child care. They know how important this is. Prior to their efforts, there was no child care available at all in Augusta. How good is this 'every child in Australia' promise when it ignores this fact? There was no child care without these women getting busy, and this group of amazing. persistent women have never given up. Recently, they finally secured some funding to renovate a building and, with the previous federal approvals, have successfully run a vacation program for three years now.

Unfortunately, they were not successful in their application to the current government for a Community Child Care Fund grant in 2024. They were classified as inner regional, when they're well over 300 kilometres from Perth, 3½ hours away. They've told me there are many regional areas in the same predicament regarding lack of child care and resourcing, because others are getting in touch, saying, 'We've got no child care—we can't work, we can't support our local businesses and we can't support our families.' But, in spite of their setbacks, they're hoping to open their early childhood project in mid- to late 2025. Good on them. After all these years and all this work, they cannot wait to see the impact that a childcare centre has on their small town of Augusta and its littlest residents. They've said they're hoping to inspire other country towns to keep speaking up.

I'm speaking up in here for those country towns that don't have child care. So don't come in here and say that every child in Australia is going to benefit from this, okay? They are really focused and hoping to inspire other country towns to keep speaking up regarding the importance of child care for their towns to thrive. They have also said, 'We hope that, in the years to come, childcare deserts are a thing of the past.' They won't be, with this bill. There's nothing in it for these small communities. They said, 'Rural children and families deserve equal access to early learning, regardless of their postcode.' What help is this bill to them? These are the words of Kylie Lucas, the Augusta & Districts Community Childcare Inc. Treasurer. She's the local pharmacist, and she's been desperate for child care in Augusta. That's what she's been saying.

It should not be this hard or take this long and take so much effort for rural and regional families to have access to what people in metro areas often take for granted. Why are the people, the families, the small businesses that desperately need these workers in these areas and the families that are doing it tough less important and less valued and not covered under this legislation? It's an absolute disgrace. It should have been a priority for the Labor government. Why doesn't the Labor government fix the childcare deserts before offering subsidised child care to families earning $533,000? What a disgraceful slap in the face for those of us who live in the regions. Equally, how fair is it that Labor are subsidising child care for families earning up to $533,000 while at the same time capping access to independent youth allowance at a parental income of $160,000? How fair is that?

Once again, this affects students and families in regional and remote parts of Australia—the areas Labor clearly does not care about. These are the young people in our electorates who often have no choice but to leave their homes to go to university, because the courses they need to study—in our case, in Western Australia—are available only in the city. These are courses such as medicine, law, pharmacy and engineering. But Labor applies the $160,000 threshold for access to independent youth allowance while at the same time providing taxpayer subsidised child care for families earning $533,000.

In every instance it is regional and rural and remote families and children and the small businesses that are desperate for these workers and these professionals who are missing out under this government. It should not be forgotten that since Labor came to government the cost of child care—for those who can get it—has increased by 22.3 per cent. Since Labor's cheaper child care policy came into effect, actual out-of-pocket costs have increased by 12.7 per cent, and one in three services are charging above this fee cap.

Childcare providers have also been hit by increased operational costs and increased regulations. Labor has estimated that more than 100,000 families will have access to more subsidised care and more than 66,000 families will better off. Well, that is not every child in Australia, as we keep hearing about here. It represents only about six per cent of all families currently engaged with the childcare subsidy system. What happens to the rest? And where will the extra staff need to come from? Even with this commitment, we are so short of childcare staff.

Once again, I want to reiterate that if the government thinks that every family in Australia that needs child care currently has access to child care then the government is certainly out of touch with rural and regional Australia. The number of childcare deserts that exist, where there is absolutely no child care: I wonder whether the government has that list and whether they've actually looked at it, and looked at the numbers of small communities in rural and regional areas that have no access to child care. Why wasn't that part of the consideration in this bill, if we're talking about every child in Australia? That's what we just heard: every child in Australia—except if you live in a childcare desert, where there is absolutely no child care. What do they do, and what does this bill do for them?

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